Your warm scarf
by ShiroPL
Summary: Short Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery fic. 3rd-year MCxPenny Haywood, because I'm done waiting. Summary: Penny is cold and MC has a warm scarf. Cross-posted on Archive of Our Own (AO3).


A/N: Just a quick warning that this is my first work, English is not my first language and I don't have a beta so, obviously, there will be mistakes. I will gladly correct them, so do not hesitate writing to me.

Disclaimer: I do not own any events nor characters present in this work. I'm just borrowing them to play a little bit.

It's Saturday morning at Hogwarts and even though snow melted weeks ago, it's still rather chilly before ten. You are standing with Rowan and Ben, near the fountain trying to catch some of that rare Scotland sun before it will disappear once again, all while waiting for Penny to catch with you. Today is a Hogsmeade trip day, so your group isn't the only one waiting, but they keep a distance, you are the Cursed Kid after all.

During the first year you got used to the attention and being treated like a madman, so now on your third, you don't care anymore, because against all odds you have friends now. They had seen more of you than your last name, and you are genuinely grateful for that. Rowan and Ben, who are now happily chatting with each other, excited for the trip, Bill the "cool older brother" figure, Tonks the metamorphmagus master, Tulip the ultimate prankster, Andre who's already one of the best Quidditch players and Penny. Yes, confident, talented, sociable and heavenly beautiful Penny.

You bury your face in your scarf, the same one you got from Andre when you first visited Hogsmeade, feeling colour rising in your cheeks. You internally sigh _'Great. Now just thinking of her makes me blush. Stupid crush.'_  
You raise your head and glance at your friends, but they didn't seem to notice your little absence, still engrossed in their debate about which one is the best sweet from Honeydukes.

You can't help but smile, you are happy to go out with your little gang. You close your eyes and turn your face to the, once again, shining sun, relaxing. _'The sun is always shining, sometimes it's just covered by the clouds'_ you think and label the thought as something Penny would say. That thought reminded you that Merula caught a cold, so she won't try to ruin your day today. Again, you smile a little, pleased _'today will be a good day'_.

When you stand there, eyes closed, lost in your own world, you feel the awfully cold sensation at the back of your neck. You yelp and jump a little, immediately turning around, hand reaching for your wand. But before you draw it out, you recognize blonde braids, joyous eyes and that sly grin of accomplishment, which can only mean it's one of Penny's, oh so hilarious, jokes. The sight makes you frown _'That little rascal. Cute but still'_ and whine, playing affronted by this obvious lack of empathy.

"That's how you greet a hero?", but your upturned lips betray your already poor acting, which causes the culprit, and at this point, Rowan and Ben, burst into a fit of laughter. After a second you join them snickering as well, happiness is a contagious disease after all. When you catch a breath you say to Penny "You are such dummy sometimes."

"And that's why you like me." she instantly responds, winking at you. But before you have time to reply or think or even blush or do something, anything, Penny shivers.

"What's wrong?" you ask concerned, her comment and wink already forgot. She smiles sheepishly and shrugs.

"I'm just a little cold that's all. I didn't think it will be that cold and I didn't bring my scarf with me. When we will start to move it will be-" she doesn't even finish, you are already standing next to her, wrapping your scarf around both of your necks.

You don't know what caused this surge of courage, you are always acting before thinking. Time for consequences will be later...

Which is now, because you start to feel almost painfully aware of the closeness between you two. To wrap you both with one scarf you had to stand right next to her, so close you feel the warmth of her body against your side.  
Trying to keep your cool, and fighting the blush, you smile cheekily looking at her and say "Now you won't be so cold and when we will start off you can take it, I will feel warm enough."

'Because your sole existence warms me up a little too much' you think, but thankfully don't say it out loud. You know you sound cheesy and probably silly already, but Penny doesn't seem to mind. Instead, she smiles happily and mutters "Thank you".

Then a second later something shifts in her eyes, something dangerous and mischievous appears, to just in a blink, disappear. You are confused but before you have a chance to ask her expression once again changes and she looks so, so. Well, you can't even describe her expression, but the closest would be coquettish. Then she leans, now dangerously near, and with a smile that should be illegal, she swoons "My hero!".

Your mind probably could turn blank, and you probably could feel, or rather hear your heartbeat quickening. And normally you could bet all your galleons that you are beet red with shook expression.

But you can't, because the only thing your mind does is screaming, and you are so unfocused that the first thing you notice is heavy press on your body, arms wrapped around your shoulders, faint vanilla scent and that angelic laughter.

Your mind slowly restarts now and the whole situation slowly sinking in. _'It was just a joke, oh thank Merlin.'_ You start to relax and breathe again. Then an idea sprouts. You grab Penny by her waist, squeeze her really hard, and over your rising laughter you say, maybe a little too loudly, "No problem princess!".

 _'I love that nickname, it's really fitting. My powerful princess.'_ Realizing that now the tables have turned, Penny tries to escape but to no avail, so she cries, laughing as well "Let me go you little monster!"

"Not a hero anymore? Rawr!" And you both start giggling and wrestling again.

Your playful banter would probably go on if not for the sound of Rowan clearing their throat. The sound startled both you and Penny, it seems that you lost contact with the whole world except each other. Your expression sours a little because you can tell without even looking, why Rowan did what they did, but you still look at them, seeing Rowan with a pink tint on their cheeks, when they say "People are staring".

So now you start to notice your surroundings, and people really are staring at you and Penny with, rather funny looks on their faces. In complete silence. So you take a look at Penny and yourself and become terribly aware that you two look dishevelled, with your scarf around your necks and your hands around Penny's waist, hers on your chest. And you stand in the centre of the courtyard. And with the most popular girl in your year, one and only Penny Haywood.

Colour drains from your face and you almost jump away from her, in last second reminding yourself of the scarf, so you want to slowly back away from her and try to keep it cool. _'Easy, right?'_

Then everyone's attention takes a calling from Snape, who was now standing near the exit from the courtyard, next to Filch. _'These two move quietly like cats, nobody noticed how they even got here, judging by surprised looks on everyone faces'_

"Form a line with your permissions. Any slowdowns will result in prohibition from today's trip." Snape said calmly, but since it was dead quietly already, his order sounded like a thunder. _'Merlin, it will be the first time I am utterly grateful for Snape!'_ you can't help but think, as all the attention turned from you two to him.

As you are calming down, you feel movement at your side. You glance that way and you see Penny starting to take off your scarf with an unreadable expression. You are quicker and you take off your part of the scarf and put it on Penny's neck. She starts to protest and you think _'She is too caring for her own good, so if she won't take care of herself I will do it'._

You state, smiling "I already said, I'm good without it." Her protest dies in her throat, and she shyly smiles back at you while adjusting your scarf around her neck. _'She looks so good in it'_ you think, feeling weirdly possessive.

Then your bravery makes itself known and you say "Now don't you look especially smashing in my scarf?" grinning smugly.

"I don't look anywhere near smashing.", she says amused, even though you both know that it's just an act of modesty coming from her. She knows she is pretty, and is not ashamed of her looks, even when sometimes it brings misjudged opinions about her.

So you, decide to playfully mock her, just a little "What? You didn't know. I thought everyone knew that!" smiling wider. You expect laughter or giggles but instead, her expression turns adoring, if you didn't know better you would say it was almost loving, and then she says softly, quiet enough to be a whisper.

"I don't care about everyone" looking right into your eyes.

And once again you are frozen, but not because you can't move. It's because your only want is exactly, just to come closer and kiss her, so it takes all of your willpower to do not move, even by an inch. And when you think you will lose this internal battle, trying to find anything clever to say, your best friend interrupts both of you.

"Guys, we have to get into the line." _'Bless your soul Rowan, you are the-'_ but then ruining everything by adding "You two can flirt later." _'...and never mind, I will kill you, I know where you sleep.'_

Despite your murderous thoughts, that are certainly visible on your face, they seem to look rather pleased with their little joke. You were stupid enough to tell them about your little crush, and you start to regret it more and more now. And you know it won't be the last time.

You look at Ben, seeking help with this dreadful accusation, but you see this knowing look on his face and for Merlin's sake, of course, Ben figured you out. He might be scared of everything, but that makes him an especially good observer. _'You never know what and from where might strike.'_

It's clear, he won't help, so the best option is surrender in the fight you know, you can't win. Or don't really want to win.

You repress the urge to groan and simply state "Coming!", pouting instead. They turn around and start to walk to the end of the already melting line. You want to go with them, but you feel the light pull on your sleeve, so you stay at your place facing Penny again. She takes a breath and says calmly "Thank you" and you have an odd feeling, that the scarf is only an excuse and what she said has a deeper meaning. Her features look sincere and thankful, but you see shadows of sadness in her eyes. She is probably remembering the whole werewolf situation.

You want to chase that sadness away, so you say the cheesiest line you can now come up with.

"Anything for you princess~" smiling and shoving her side playfully. She laughs shortly at your silliness, sadness forgot, like it never were there in the first place. You're glad. _'I want to always be able to make her happy.'_

When you feel like you did at least decent job cheering her up, you want to catch up with Rowan and Ben. Then Penny leans slowly and kisses your cheek gently.

It happens so quickly and lightly that you can't tell if it happened for real or just in your imagination, but the lingering warm feeling on your cheek confirms it was a reality. You see her as she backs away, smiles fondly and says "Come on we have to catch up with Rowan and Ben. We don't want to irritate Snape." And you can't respond you just stand there, rooted and shook to the core. _'Does she...'_

But before you have time to analyse what in the world just happened, she grabs your hand, turns around and pulls you in the direction when Rowan and Ben are standing, running and giggling. So you run after her and smile, already affected by her laughter.

When you two stop near the rest, Penny releases your hand and you hear Ben comment "What took you so long? And why are you both so red? It wasn't a long run, you couldn't tire yourself out that much. Are you sick or -" he stops, like some conclusion had hit him. Smile, or rather a smirk creeps on his face and he shears a knowing look with Rowan.

You grimace and want the ground to open up, it's so embarrassing. _'Oh, dear Merlin, why they had to comment my red face.'_

Then a thought hits you _'Wait. Ben said that we both look red, which means...'_ you glance at Penny and a weirdly warm feeling overpowers you. She looks flustered, with a crimson flush, covering her cheeks and the tips of her ears. Her smile ashamed, eyes looking anywhere but you, nose buried in the scarf and her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt. _'She is so beautiful'_ is your only thought as you stare in a trance-like state, for how long you can't tell.

Once again your best friend breaks your little bubble.

"Guys, we are next, let's go" amusement clear on their face. You can't contain your happiness anymore _'I wasn't the only one affected by this little kiss.'_ You grin brightly, and feeling courageous you take Penny's hand in yours once again.

Seeing your good mood she smiles sheepishly back at you and squeezes your hand lightly. Her eyes asking _'You won't leave me behind?'_ Feeling her insecurity you squeeze back _'Won't happen. Never.'_

She visibly relaxes, and you two catch up with Rowan and Ben. Smiling you vocalize everyone thought "Today we are going to have a blast!" and a choir of agreement echo your statement, along with a little hand squeeze coming from Penny. You look at her and when she catches you looking, she once again buries her nose in your scarf, eyes shining with happiness and she whispers loud enough for you to hear "It's a really nice scarf. I might not give it back." winking.

"As long as you promise not to wear other people's scarves, I'm totally ok with it.", you say grinning mischievously. You know Andre wouldn't mind. He probably already knows, that you can't say no to Penny. You realize that your statement sounded probably a little too possessively, but you don't care.

Penny raises her eyebrow at your comment and playfully shoves your side, but from behind the scarf, she is smiling. Plus she doesn't let go of your hand, which means she isn't upset. "Got it!" she laughs.

"Merlin, these two are hopeless." you hear Rowan comment directed to no one, but loud enough to be heard by the whole group and you snicker, along with Ben and Penny. You can't argue here.

Now, even without your scarf, you feel warm.

 _'That's what happiness feels like.'_


End file.
